“ [These partnerships] ensure that early care professionals in the region, especially students, can have the option to pursue the necessary training that will lead them to obtain a Child Development Associate®."

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB)April 25, 2016

The Council for Professional Recognition (The Council) announces three new regional business partnerships with Educational First Steps (EFS), Parents and Children Together (PACT), and Highlands Community Charter School to encourage students from each respective entity to obtain Child Development Associate® Credentials through their educational programs.

“Our CDA® Credential represents the crossroad where education and knowledge meet,” says Valora Washington, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Council for Professional Recognition. “We are excited about the partnerships with Educational First Steps, PACT and Highlands Community Charter School, since they ensure that early care professionals in the region, especially students, can have the option to pursue the necessary training that will lead them to obtain a Child Development Associate®.”

The partnership between the Council and Educational First Steps in Texas, which will offer a CDA® course in the Dallas and Ft. Worth locations, provides a CDA® course as an extension to the professional development career training for CDA® candidates. Their goal is to enhance and improve participants’ knowledge of child development and motivate them towards continuing their education in the field of early care and education. At each site, staff with graduate degrees in early childhood education will administer the CDA® course and help candidates navigate through the process of obtaining Child Development Associate® Credentials.

The Council and Parents and Children Together (PACT) will promote PACT’s continuous professional development efforts towards their early childhood education program in Hawaii. PACT is in the process of developing a Career Technical Education (CTE) program with two career tracks: Either for students to be able to start their own home child care facility, or to have them obtain Child Development Associates® so they can work in an early education setting. In this regard, PACT wishes to have the same type of partnership that other CTE high schools have, as the lack of child care is viewed as an obstacle to their student success in school.They also see that many of their students may find a rewarding career by becoming a credentialed Child Development Associate® professional in the field of early care in their communities.

Through the partnership with Highlands Community Charter School in Sacramento, CA, the Council’s mission is to facilitate the CDA® Credential process for the school’s early childhood education professionals. This initiative supports Highlands Community Charter School’s continuous professional development career program in early childhood education. The school is developing a Career Technical Education (CTE) program that will allow students to either start their own family child care facilities, and/or to have them become certified Child Development Associates® so they can work in a preschool or other early education setting.

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ABOUT THE COUNCIL FOR PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION AND ITS THREE PARTNERS
The Council for Professional Recognition (The Council) promotes improved performance and recognition of professionals in the early childhood education of children from birth to 5 years of age. The Council works to ensure all professional early childhood educators and caregivers meet the developmental, emotional, and education needs of our nation’s youngest children.

The Council recognizes and credentials professionals who work in all types of early care and education programs – Head Start, pre-K, infant-toddler, family child care, and home visitor programs.

Educational First Steps’ mission is to increase the availability of quality early childhood education for economically disadvantaged children. They are a non-profit organization that shows caregivers of at-risk children how to create high-quality early learning environments. Since 1990, Educational First Steps equipped the people who care for children in poverty in preschools, daycare centers and homes with proven tools and techniques that transform caregiving into teaching.

Founded in 1968, Parents and Children Together (PACT) is one of Hawaii's leading non-profit organizations providing a wide array of innovative and educational social services. PACT helps families identify, address and successfully resolve challenges through its 15 statewide program in the areas of early childhood education, domestic violence prevention and treatment, child abuse & neglect prevention and treatment, positive youth development, community and economic development, and mental health support.

Highlands Community Charter Schools provide education for students seeking to obtain high school diplomas, along with elective courses leading to a Certificate of Completion in one of the Career and Technical Education courses. This entity assists students to become competent, confident, productive, and adaptable, with the skills and attitudes to enable them to successfully contribute to society. Highlands Community Charter Schools provide a learning environment that values and promotes risk taking, compassion, tolerance, self-awareness, and the courage to stand up for one’s convictions.